


Hourglass

by Pandalandalopalis



Series: In A Perfect Universe [2]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Rebelcaptain - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 17:38:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9134320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandalandalopalis/pseuds/Pandalandalopalis
Summary: Alternate Universe Summary: During the rise of the First Order, time travel is invented and the inventor goes back in time to stop Anakin Skywalker from turning to the dark side and therefore avoiding all the death he subsequently causes. Because of this, Palpatine is taken down before he can do any significant damage and the universe becomes a better, more peaceful place. Padme Amidala doesn't die in childbirth; her and Anakin raise Luke and Leia together and the Jedi Council makes an exception for Anakin because he is the ~Chosen One~. Because this change has been made through time travel, ~the Force~ (as an entity) considers this change to be unnatural, and it probes the original timeline in the backs of everyone’s minds like a half-remembered dream.Fic Summary: The Force doesn’t like its universe to be played with. It wants things to go back the way that they were – something that Jyn Erso finds herself experiencing first-hand.(Rated T only for some language and themes. There is a reason Rogue One is rated PG-13, you know.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to the first part of this series titled "In A Perfect Universe". Read that fic for context.
> 
> Okay, so this fic is waaaaaaay more angsty than the last fic (and also way longer tbh). To sum up in short, the Force is pissed off that someone messed with time and so it's taking its anger out on Jyn (by showing her memories of the way things were before someone used time travel to mess it up) in an attempt to make things go back to how they were in the original timeline.

_“Remember._

_Whatever I do, I do it to protect you._

_Say you understand.”_

_“I understand, Papa.”_

_“I love you, Stardust.”_

_“I love you, too, Papa.”_

_*_

_“What? I know how to use it.”_

_“That’s what I’m afraid of. Give it to me.”_

_“We’re going to Jedha. That’s a warzone.”_

_“That’s not the point. Where did you get it?”_

_“I found it.”_

_“I find that answer vague and unconvincing.”_

_“Trust goes both ways.”_

_*_

_“We’ll give her your name and hope that gets us a meeting with Saw.”_

_“Hope?”_

_“Yeah. Rebellions are built on hope.”_

_*_

_“The last time I saw you, you gave me a knife and a blaster and told me to wait in a bunker until daylight.”_

_“I knew you were safe.”_

_“You left me behind.”_

_“You were already the best soldier in my cadre.”_

_“I was sixteen!”_

_*_

_“Papa. Papa, it’s me. It’s Jyn.”_

_“Jyn. Stardust.”_

_“Papa, I’ve seen your message. The hologram, I’ve seen it.”_

_“It must be destroyed.”_

_“I know. I know. We will.”_

_“Jyn. Look at you. I’ve so much to tell you.”_

_“Papa. No. No Papa. Papa! Come on!”_

_“Jyn, we’ve got to go. Come on.”_

_“I can’t leave him.”_

_“Listen to me. He’s gone. There’s nothing you can do. Come on.”_

_*_

_“You lied about why we came here and you lied about why you went up alone.”_

_“I had every chance to pull the trigger. But did I? Did I?”_

_“You might as well have. My father was living proof and you put him at risk. Those were Alliance bombs that killed him!”_

_“I had orders! Orders that I disobeyed! But you wouldn’t understand that.”_

_“Orders? When you know they’re wrong? You might as well be a stormtrooper.”_

_“We don’t all have the luxury of deciding when and where we want to care about something._

_Suddenly the Rebellion is real for you?_

_Some of us live it._

_I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old._

_You’re not the only one who lost everything.”_

* * *

Jyn startled awake, a cold sweat covering her skin and making the bed beneath her feel uncomfortable. She did what she could to slow her breathing.

She had been having these strange dreams for the past couple of months. Specifically, (although it was something she never really thought about) it started happening the night after the day she agreed to join Cassian Andor on his ship.

She didn’t exactly know what to make of them. They seemed oddly similar to the story of the past lives that her and Cassian had made-up for themselves, but Jyn amounted that to the frequency in which they talked about it. It was a small past-time of theirs, almost like an inside joke. Whenever the trip would get long and boring, they would ask each other questions about it and see what the other could come up with.

The dreams about her father were beginning to get to her, though. Jyn was very close to her father, and the thought of him dying was heartbreaking. She reasoned that the dreams were sometimes about that because she missed him. She remembered how excited he was for her.

_“You got on a ship?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“And you’ll be back. . .?”_

_“I’m not quite sure.”_

_“Well I think this is amazing, Stardust.”_

_“You do?”_

_“Go. See the universe. And don’t forget to visit a Jedi Temple or two! The guardians there know just about everything there is to know about kyber crystal. Could be worth an hour.”_

_“Thanks, Papa.”_

Being on Cassian’s ship had been just as amazing as her father had hoped for her. Jyn couldn’t exactly say what it was that Cassian did – it was a lot of odds and ends: Sending important political messages; delivering certain things ( _legally_ , unlike the former job of Leia Skywalker’s new husband, which was a topic of conversation they seemed to encounter frequently during their travels. Without fail, Jyn would respond with an annoyed eyeroll and Cassian would give her a knowing look and smile at her irritation); they were even asked to transport the Monarch of Naboo – Queen Janerea – off-world and return her without any issues. No issues arose, luckily. Although, the young queen had developed a particular fondness with their pilot (who didn’t reciprocate because she was practically half his age), and it caused difficulties when she tried to persuade him to stay on Naboo. Cassian thought the whole thing was incredibly amusing.

Their pilot was Bodhi Rook. Although Cassian was a sufficient enough pilot on his own, he needed someone else to take over when there were times they needed to travel for more than six hours. Jyn liked Bodhi – he reminded her of a brother that she never had but always wanted. (That’s only partially a lie. She really always wanted a _sister_ , but she wasn’t picky.)

Besides Cassian and Bodhi, the only other person on the ship before Jyn had arrived was a robot that Cassian had . . . _acquired_ at some point during his adventures. K-2SO (often referred to as “Kay” or “Kaytu”) was a KX-series Security Droid with an attitude problem. Cassian told her once that it was defective in the way that it was prone to calculate poor odds in any given situation (due to its cynical, sarcastic, and stoic personality) – but he kept it around because it proved to be useful in other ways.

K-2 and Jyn didn’t get along at first. Jyn had never met a robot that was practically self-aware before, or one that didn’t like to take orders. That wouldn’t have been a problem, if it wasn’t for the fact that K-2 didn’t seem to like Jyn in the slightest. But it seemed to like Cassian, and so it tolerated her for his sake.

Jyn suddenly felt very hot and overwhelmed in the small room that she slept in. She threw the covers off of her legs and stood, opening the door and padding down the hall in her bare feet. She made her way to the control room and went up to the cockpit. She fell into the co-pilot’s seat with an audible sigh.

Bodhi, who was taking the night shift, glanced her way. “You’re up late,” he commented.

“Couldn’t sleep,” she replied.

“You just missed Cassian,” Bodhi said, “He was here, uh . . . half an hour ago? Couldn’t sleep either. Tried to convince me to switch shifts with him. I think he had a nightmare or something.”

“Really?”

“He looked a little spooked. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Did you have a nightmare, too?”

Jyn shook her head. “No. Of course not. Just can’t sleep, is all. I think the heat regulator in my room is broken . . . or something.”

Bodhi chuckled. “You two are both really bad liars. Honestly, if you two were responsible for infiltrating an evil empire to sneak out their evil plans for the resulting rebellion against said empire, everyone would die.”

Jyn was thrown for a moment. “Rebellion? Why do you say that?”

Bodhi gave her a strange look in response to her urgent, questioning tone. “You know I hear it when you and Cassian talk, right? Your whole ‘past lives’ thing? Why–” he grinned, “–Did you think it was a secret? A secret between you and Cassian? How _scandalous_.”

“I swear, Bodhi, if you become one of those gossiping ninnies that says ‘scandalous’ in response to every piece of news they hear I’ll hit you.”

He laughed. “I don’t doubt that for a second.”

* * *

“We should be in range to land in about half an hour,” Cassian said as he piloted the ship. It had been hours since Jyn had attempted (and was successful, to say the least) to go back to sleep after her midnight chat with Bodhi.

“Good,” Bodhi commented.

“Did you want some breakfast, Cassian?” Jyn said as she stuck her head into the cockpit.

He seemed tense for some reason. “Maybe later,” he answered. Her eyebrows knitted together but she didn’t mention the way he staring ahead, not looking at her.

“Okay. But you should eat something before we leave.”

“I will.”

Jyn left the cockpit and went back to the table in the control room where their breakfast was. Bodhi had finished his already, and she grabbed the loaf of instant-bread off the plate when she sat down. Jyn took a bite and frowned at the now-empty contents of the plate.

“Kay,” she started.

“Yes?” it asked.

“You only made two loaves of bread.”

“Your perception skills never cease to amaze, Jyn,” K-2 replied.

She rolled her eyes. “Did you not make one for Cassian?”

“No, I _made_ one for Cassian, I _didn’t_ make one for you. That’s his.” It gestured to the loaf in her hand. “If he starves, it’s your fault.”

“ _Kay_ ,” Jyn emphasized angrily. “It takes two seconds to make these things.”

“Then you make him one,” K-2 said in response, and promptly left the room.

“One day I’ll kill that robot,” Jyn said through gritted teeth. She did end up making Cassian a loaf of instant-bread. Usually, they had more food on hand to make, but they were planning on restocking from the planet they were about to land on.

Bodhi went to relieve Cassian when they were fifteen minutes away from docking. He sat down at the table and took a bite from his loaf. He looked like he hadn’t slept much.

Jyn was slightly concerned, but if she knew anything from her mother, she knew that tired people were more prone to snapping if you commented on their tiredness.

“So, this planet that we’re going to,” she began, “what’s it called again?”

Cassian swallowed. “Jedha.”

Jyn’s skin prickled and something sharp poked the back of her mind in an intense way.

“And it’s not a planet,” he continued, “it’s a moon.”

“Good to know,” she replied. Cassian noticed her change of tone and looked up at her.

“Jyn?” he probed gently.

“Past lives,” she responded. It was their code for when something felt eerily familiar and they couldn’t explain why.

He nodded, but said nothing, only leaning back in his chair. Jyn got up and started clearing the table.

“Speaking of,” she started, needing a sense of normalcy and a distraction from her strange dreams, “I was thinking that we didn’t get along at first in our past lives. When we first met, that is.”

“No?”

“Might have had something to do with you attempting to kill my father.” It was out of her mouth before she could stop or censor herself. That sharp something in the back of her mind bore deeper and gave her an uncomfortable sense of dread.

Cassian’s eyes were narrowed. “That’s . . . intense.”

“You were under orders,” she continued, attempting to make-up for her outburst, “My father was working for the bad guys.”

“Jyn–”

“The important thing was, you didn’t do it.”

“Jyn, I don’t think we should talk about the whole ‘past lives’ thing, anymore,” he said suddenly.

She frowned. “But that’s our thing.”

Cassian stood. “We’ll find a new thing.”

Jyn stopped him from entering the cockpit by putting her hand on his chest. “Is this about the nightmare you had last night?”

He gave her an odd look (like he didn’t expect her to know that), then his eyebrows knitted together. “I don’t know what Bodhi told you, but I didn’t have a nightmare.”

She sighed. “Cassian–”

“Don’t you think it is strange? We talk about our past lives like they happened for real. That’s not healthy, Jyn. Not to mention we follow this idea that our past lives _died_ together on a beach watching the world crumble in front of their eyes!” He seemed stressed over the idea: his voice was raised slightly and he looked more exhausted than he did before.

“You didn’t think it was strange when we first met,” Jyn defended. “What happened to ‘ _poetically tragic_ ’?”

“You were a pretty girl at a fancy party,” Cassian said, waving his hand dismissively and avoiding her eyes. “What did you expect me to say?”

His words hurt her. Jyn pressed her lips together. When he looked back at her and saw her expression, his face filled with regret and he opened his mouth. She didn’t let him speak.

“Let me know when we’ve landed.”

* * *

Cassian and Bodhi went without Jyn to deliver the package and pick up supplies. Bodhi had said that she didn’t have to come with them: they could deal with the package just fine on their own. (She was convinced that he had heard at least half of her conversation with Cassian and was helpfully offering her an out.)

And so, Jyn was left with only K-2 for company.

“What do you know about Jedha, Kay?” she asked as she lounged in her chair, feet propped up on the table.

“I am a security droid, not an information droid.” If a robot could roll its eyes, K-2 would’ve done just that.

“I see. So you don’t know anything about Jedha?” Jyn learned early on that challenging it like she would a stubborn living being worked at least 70% of the time.

“I didn’t say that,” it said. K-2 paused, then, “Jedha has a Jedi Temple.”

Jyn slid her feet off the table and sat up straight. “Really?”

“It’s even close by. Sufficient enough information for you?”

She grinned and stood up, grabbing her jacket. “If Cassian and Bodhi ask, I’ll be back by the time the sun in this solar system sets.” She moved toward the door, then backed up. “What time is that, exactly?”

“You can’t _leave_ ,” K-2 said incredulously.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were my mother.”

“The captain wouldn’t want you to leave,” it continued, “You’re not a native to this place; you don’t know where you’re going.”

Jyn shrugged. “I’ll figure it out.”

“The captain–”

“ _The captain_ will find another pretty face to look at,” she said bitterly. “Maybe even on this moon.”

“You flatter yourself.”

Jyn could help but smile at its stoic tone despite herself. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, then pressed the button to open the hatch. Jyn walked out of the ship. K-2 followed her.

“If you’re going to leave, I can’t let you go alone.”

She stopped and turned to face it. “You know, for a robot that has at least five feelings – sometimes as many as seven on a good day – you do seem to care a lot about my well-being.” She continued walking.

“I don’t,” it replied, following her. “But the captain says you are a friend.”

Jyn halted. That something sharp dug deeper in the back of her mind and she closed her eyes.

“Are you reconsidering this ridiculous idea?”

She opened them. “No. Come on; I don’t know when the sun sets in this solar system and I promised Bodhi a game of Dejarik.”

* * *

It took about an hour for the two of them to finally find the Jedi Temple. When they did, Jyn took a moment just to take it all in. An expression of awe washed over her face.

“It’s not _that_ great,” K-2 commented, ruining her moment.

“Do you ever shut up?” she asked.

“Not when it irritates you so much.”

There was a large man standing at the entrance of the Jedi Temple when they got there. His eyes narrowed when he saw them.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

“Well,” Jyn started, “we were hoping to see the inside of the Jedi Temple. Are you one of the guardians?”

He scoffed. “Not exactly. There was a break-in, so I was asked to help protect this place. Keep kids like you from messing it up.”

A voice laughed from behind the man. “Back down, Baze. This woman seems trustworthy enough.” He walked out of the entrance and into the light. Jyn could tell from his milky eyes that he was blind.

“Chirrut,” the man – Baze – expressed in an exhausted tone, “you can’t just let anyone into the Temple.”

“I can, and I will.” Chirrut smiled and turned back to Jyn. “Come in. Maybe you can tell me a little bit about that kyber crystal around your neck.”

Jyn glanced down in surprise and her fingers curled around her necklace. “How did you–”

“I don’t have all day, you know,” he said, and began walking inside. She followed, and K-2 followed her. Baze stopped it.

“Your security droid can’t go in with you.”

Jyn knew it would just come up with a sarcastic response, so she stopped it before it could. “Just wait outside, alright? This is a Jedi Temple. No danger here.”

If a robot could breathe, K-2 would’ve sighed in annoyance. “Fine.”

She was glad that it listened, for once. “Thank you, Kay.” Jyn followed Chirrut inside the Temple. She was immediately thrown back into that feeling of awe she had when she first saw it.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he said.

“It’s wonderful,” Jyn answered. He led her deeper into the Temple, where they came upon an array of kyber crystals, bigger than she had ever seen. If it was possible for her to become more awestruck, she would’ve been.

“Kyber crystals are used to create Jedi lightsabers,” Chirrut said, “but they are more than that. These specific crystals help channel the Force. They speak to me. And, if you’re lucky, perhaps they will speak to you as well.” He gestured for her to step forward.

Jyn hesitated, then took a step, and another, until she was close enough that she could reach out and touch one of them. She looked over at Chirrut, and he nodded. She placed her hand on the closest kyber crystal.

_“What chance to we have?”_

She pulled her hand back. “Did you hear that?”

“No.” He chuckled. “But I hear my own voices. Why don’t you listen?”

Jyn hesitated again briefly before putting her hand back where it was.

_“What chance do we have? The question is ‘what choice’? Run? Hide? Plead for mercy? Scatter your forces? You give way to an enemy this evil with this much power and you condemn the galaxy to an eternity of submission._

_Send your best troops to Scarif. Send the whole rebel fleet if you have to. We need to capture the Death Star plans if there is any hope of destroying it.”_

_“You’re asking us to invade an Imperial installation based on nothing but hope?”_

_“Rebellions are built on hope.”_

“No,” she whispered. “Don’t do that.”

Jyn didn’t realize she was crying until the tears tickled her chin. That something sharp was buried so deep in the back of her mind that she reached behind her head to make sure there wasn’t actually something there.

Some of the kyber crystals flashed red, making a pattern of sorts. It was like two triangles, stacked with the pointy ends meeting in the middle.

She stepped back to take a better look at it. “It looks like . . . like . . . an hourglass.”

Chirrut hummed. “There is a disturbance in the Force. I have felt it, and so have many Jedi. They have been unable to explain why . . . but I believe this is the reason.”

“An hourglass?” Jyn repeated.

“Time,” he replied. “Someone has messed with time.”

* * *

Jyn felt awful all the way back to the ship. If K-2 had noticed her uncharacteristic silence, it said nothing about it. It was dark by the time they got back. Cassian and Bodhi looked relieved when they caught first sight of them.

“Where have you two been?” Cassian questioned as the two of them walked up into the ship. Jyn declined to answer and instead walked past him.

“The Jedi Temple,” K-2 replied for her.

“What? Why?” He looked to Jyn for an explanation. She sat down at the table. Bodhi sat next to her.

“Jyn wanted to see it,” K-2 answered for her again.

“Are you okay?” Bodhi whispered to her.

“Fine,” she said with a tense smile.

“That could have been dangerous!” Cassian walked up into the ship and closed the hatch when K-2 was inside, still speaking directly to Jyn. “You don’t know this moon. This morning you asked me what it was called. You could have gotten lost!”

Jyn stood, angry. “I don’t need you to lecture me on this! I was perfectly capable of going to the Jedi Temple and coming back without getting lost! And Kay was with me! I was fine!”

“Kaytu is defective!” Cassian shot back.

“–I resent that comment–” K-2 threw in.

He continued as if he had never heard the droid. “What would we have done if you had gotten lost? We didn’t know where you were or where you were going – This could have gone badly, Jyn!”

“Why are you yelling at me?” she asked in the same volume and tone of voice. “I’ve gone off on my own before, I’m old enough to take care of myself – What changed?”

“You could have gotten hurt.”

Jyn gave an annoyed shout. “Arrgh! You know what, Cassian, you are so fucking _frustrating_ , I can’t believe I ever – arrgh!” She gave up and turned on her heel, storming down the hall and ending up in her room.

* * *

_“Do you think anybody is listening?”_

_“I do.”_

_They walked down the beach. His arm was around her shoulders and his weight was pressed against her side. He was shot. They finally gave up walking and sunk down into the sand, accepting defeat. He held her hand and squeezed it._

_“Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn.”_

_Tears filled her eyes and she wrapped her arms around him. His embrace was just as tight around her. She watched as the bright light engulfed the world, and then she felt nothing._

Jyn screamed.

She had never screamed herself awake before.

But that dream had felt so real . . . so intense . . . She had to make sure her own body was still there.

Her mind felt like it was on fire. Tears poured down her cheeks and she _couldn’t help it_ ; sobs wracked her body and she couldn’t stop. She felt like her grip on reality was slipping ( _she was dead, she had died_ ) and she needed something to hold onto but it was dark in that room and there was _nothing_ –

Cassian crashed into her room with a panicked look on his face. His room was right next to hers; he must have heard her. For some reason, the sight of him made her more upset ( _he was dead, he had died_ ) and it took him no time at all to go to her side.

He cupped her face with his hands and brushed away the tears with his thumbs. “Jyn. Jyn, look at me.”

She couldn’t see straight. Her anger with him faded away and she was just glad that he was _there_ , right in front of her, _alive_.

She tried to speak, but she was still sobbing. “You-you were – and-and the _beach_ – and it was – it was _so_ –”

“Jyn, calm down,” he said in a soothing tone. “Breathe.”

She took a shaky breath and her tears fell away and she could finally look at him clearly. He was giving her such a look of genuine concern that she had to reach out and hug him. Jyn had hugged Cassian once or twice before, but not like this. He held her like she was going to slip from his grasp at any moment. She held him just as tightly.

“Something bad is happening to me, Cassian,” she whispered. “I keep having these – these _dreams_ ; they’re so vivid and they _feel_ so – so – so _real_ , and I _can’t_. . .”

“It’s okay,” he said.

“You were dead,” she said in a smaller voice. His grip on her tightened slightly. “And I was dead. We _died_. On that beach, Cassian, the way _they_ did.”

He unwrapped his arms from her and instead held her hands. He seemed tense. “I’ve had the same dream.”

Jyn was confused. “What?”

“The one where our past lives die for the rebellion. I had that dream the other night, and it made me . . . afraid,” he confessed.

“Afraid of what?” she asked softly.

Cassian cupped her cheek with one hand. “Afraid of losing you.”

When he first admitted to have the same dream as her, Jyn thought about bringing up what Chirrut told her in the Jedi Temple. But all thoughts of that flew from her mind with his heartfelt confession. She wrapped her hand around his wrist and said nothing. His words struck a truthful cord inside her chest. His words were the same reason why she had woken up screaming. It was the same reason why she had been angry at him, and why she had yelled at him. Jyn bit her lip.

“What you said to me, this morning–”

Cassian brushed her cheek with his thumb, catching a stray tear and wiping it away. “Jyn,” he said, “You have always been more than just a pretty face to me.” He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. The contact made her close her eyes as well.

“Talking about our past lives made it more real,” she said as an explanation for his actions. “You asked me to stop talking about it because it felt too real to you.”

“Yes,” he said, then, “I’m sorry I yelled at you. When I came back to the ship, and you were gone . . . I didn’t know what to think. I should have trusted you. I’m sorry.”

“You were afraid,” she offered.

“Yes,” he replied.

She opened her eyes and was surprised to find him looking at her, studying her features. She did the same and was losing herself in his dark eyes. “Me, too,” she finally said.

Jyn closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to his. His lips were soft and warm and he moved his hand to the back of her neck and his arm around her waist to bring her closer. She tangled her fingers in his hair and for a moment she forgot about the Force pressing into the back of her mind, desperately trying to get her to remember the way it was.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone catch the Carrie Fisher quote I managed to sneak in here?  
> Love you Space Mom <3


End file.
